My Stealth install 2 10's

ShoBoat

New member
Re posted from EBOF

So I wanted to add some bottom end to my system. The factory mids and highs are pretty good for stock, however the base leaves something to be desired. I looked at the JL stealth 13' but the cost of the enclose and sub are pretty high (upwards of $1200 plus a decent amp). I began with getting equipment, 2 10" JL WS6's and a Focal FP 1.800 LE amplifier. I slapped together a box and mounted the amp. It sounded great! I was impressed, it really complemented the stock system. However now I had taken up a chunk of my trunk and for it to sound good the box needed to be at the back of the trunk facing the trunk lid. So more research, my first thought was to build 2 fiberglass enclosures mounted to each side of the trunk, to minimize the amount of space taken up. After building the backing molds the challenge was mounting. I could find a way to safely mount the enclosures without a lot of drilling. So I scrapped it. I really liked the idea of the stealth enclosure, and as mine did not come with a spare tire I had to be able to do something in the tire well. After considerable drawing and tinkering in the well I came up with a design. The 2 10's and the amp would fit under the floor in the trunk, the only catch was I needed to raise the floor 3 inches to accommodate the minimum volume for the 10's. This to me wasn't a big deal as the JL stealth box had the same impact on the trunk. The 10's fire downward into the well and as such the well makes a decent loading surface for the base to reflect off of. Just one thing if any of you are interested in doing something like this you need to secure the enclosure. If you don't the it will sound really weird. Also sound deadening is a must cover as much as possible. After all is said and done, I couldn't be happier. I built the whole system for about $1000.00 and I prefer the sound of 10's over 12's or larger subs anyway. Sorry for the quality of the pics (taken with my iphone)

 
AWESOME!

You my friend need a circle cutter jig!

That's a really great solution, and you might not realize it but you've actually made one of the best-possible bass output solutions possible.  You've technically loaded the subs in what would sorta be a horn load, and the output is incapable of being cancelled by interference waves in the trunk.  The only thing you may want to watch out for is a frequency hump at some point (can't tell what frequency until it is mapped), due to the loading design.  That said, if you cut that hump with some EQ cut, you basically will have a solid flat, powerful output with virtually no cancellation distortion. 

Great false-floor execution all around.
 
Thanks guys, and I do have a circle jig for my router lol. I  really pleased with the way it turned out. The base sorta sounds like a band pass but without the extreme fall off at the 2 ends. I played around with a few designs including a couple of fibreglass enclosures in the sides of the trunk. I actually made the enclosures then scrapped them. It took up too much space, and with the wasted space with no spare tire it made sense. This way you have a fully functional trunk, just don't forget to turn the stereo down if you are carrying eggs in the trunk lol. Unless you want scrambled eggs ;)
 
ShoBoat said:
Thanks guys, and I do have a circle jig for my router lol. I  really pleased with the way it turned out. The base sorta sounds like a band pass but without the extreme fall off at the 2 ends. I played around with a few designs including a couple of fibreglass enclosures in the sides of the trunk. I actually made the enclosures then scrapped them. It took up too much space, and with the wasted space with no spare tire it made sense. This way you have a fully functional trunk, just don't forget to turn the stereo down if you are carrying eggs in the trunk lol. Unless you want scrambled eggs ;)

You may want to mess with mass-loaded vinyl and a decoupling layer then.  Consider using that to create the isolation. 

You are right, it is in effect in some ways, a band-pass.  But like a 4th order bandpass can be, there's an impedance peak created by the loading effect at "x" frequency.  A frequency yet to be determined but I bet you can hear it if you play a sweep.  There's an electrical bump but also a mechanical bump, and that one is the one you may want to spend a little bit of time to perfect.

That's where the decoupling and MLV may help flatten that out.  I would run a 1/8" to 1/4" closed cell foam over your deadener tiles you already installed, and then lay some strong MLV over that and cover completely.  You can do this in the well but also on the floor of the trunk itself (and doors, and whatever else you want to decouple and have improved).  The change should be rather dramatic. 
 
I'll give that a try, nice to have another audiophile to talk shop with. Not that there's anything wrong with the gear heads around here ;)
 
Always happy to help.

Also, if you want to get the depth down, I've been messing around with Sundown's SD subs and they are fantastic.  They are quite shallow, but there is extra depth saved because the rear is vented radially instead of out the back like a normal sub.  You can literally place the sub's back end directly against the box.

Acoustically they are incredibly accurate and they dig very deep for their size.  I'm highly impressed.  The price is a bonus as they are about $160 each in 10" sizes, and they prefer small boxes either sealed or ported.  A really good choice for stealth setups like yours if you need to shrink down your height ever.
 
Just a question, a little off topic. But how do you all justify NOT having a spare tire? Although in all of years driving, I have only needed to change tires tmaybe half a dozen times on the road, but I always believed better to have and not need, than to need and not have.

Incidentally, my install was stealth also. But I like yours as well. Just leary of not having a spare.


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Dxlnt1 said:
Just a question, a little off topic. But how do you all justify NOT having a spare tire? Although in all of years driving, I have only needed to change tires tmaybe half a dozen times on the road, but I always believed better to have and not need, than to need and not have.

Incidentally, my install was stealth also. But I like yours as well. Just leary of not having a spare.

This is the setup I originally had in mind.  Did you make your box out of fiberglass by chance?  You would happen to have any schematics you'd share would you?
 
J-Will said:
Dxlnt1 said:
Just a question, a little off topic. But how do you all justify NOT having a spare tire? Although in all of years driving, I have only needed to change tires tmaybe half a dozen times on the road, but I always believed better to have and not need, than to need and not have.

Incidentally, my install was stealth also. But I like yours as well. Just leary of not having a spare.

This is the setup I originally had in mind.  Did you make your box out of fiberglass by chance?  You would happen to have any schematics you'd share would you?

Installer made box from scratch out of fiberglass. As I recall when others asked about boxes, I think he quoted $500 for box with speakers and shipped. Dont quote me but I think that was price.

ShoBoat said:
Our 2011 Explorer has no spare also. They come with a mobility kit.


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I assume the mobility kit is some sort of the flat repair type goo to spray into tire?
 
SHOBoat, sent you a PM regarding your box dimensions.  I know this thread is old, but I'm replying anyways.

I just purchased the materials to do this myself, but I'll be utilizing a single 12" and a 3000-watt monoblock amp, with the AudioControl LC2-i.

I'll take some pictures and start a new build thread of mine.  I hope it turns out half as good as yours did!!

As for the questions regarding a spare tire ...... I pay for AAA for a reason.  I typically run staggered wheel/tire setups and spare tires are useless because the sizes are extremely off, or I'd have to carry two to make it worth while.
 
Good luck with the install, sorry I didn't keep the dimensions. I built the box for my subs. It just worked out to be exactly the volume I needed for the WS6's. I also tried to have the deck line up with the 2nd lip on the trunk well.


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